Welcome to Saturday Quilting Bring & Share 🙂 Bring along your projects and take part in all the lovely sharing that goes on in our Worldwide Quilting Community. Use the links below to join in, don’t forget to leave an encouraging thought or helpful suggestion in the comment box at the end of the blogs you read.

Sorry there’s been such a long gap between posts. I’ve got so far behind in reading blog posts that I’ve come to the decision to forego reading those with April dates with a view to catching up with May dated posts before they run away from me too. I feel rude not reading all those lovely blog offerings as I know how long it can take to compile a single post but I’m having to be practical rather than remaining in petrified overwhelm! 😕

What have I been doing? Well! Away from the sewing room we have taken advantage of occasional sunny days to work in the garden and allotment which have been crying out for attention for months. The relentless rain and gloom has meant a very late start to the growing season. Given the breaks in the weather we have been trying to dig the sticky soil making preparations for the vegetables and flowers that are finally germinating in my pop-up greenhouse. There have also been days out with family 🙂 and video calls celebrating our Grandson’s first birthday! I know! How fast did that year go by? Here he is unwrapping the book pillow I made using left over fabrics from his baby quilt 🙂

In the sewing room I’ve been making fabric baskets in readiness for a Workshop and Sewing Social on 18th May (bookings available but places are limited).

I don’t know why but my brain was really tested figuring out the fabric measurements for the three sizes of basket. I’m definitely a visual learner so making the baskets and learning from my mistakes was the most effective way to finalise the patterns 😁

I also managed to make the yellow blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2024 before the end of April!

I note the RSC colour for May is pink and I see my box of pink & red scraps is fairly full so it will be good to dive into those.

I’ve taken time to enjoy the teaching sessions Christina Cameli is providing as part of the Free Motion Circle. At the end of April we were applying scale to our FMQ.

I find stitching on a larger scale more difficult than smaller, denser stitching but, as Christina explained, starting with designs on a small scale can make the prospect of stitching them out over an entire quilt seem just too daunting – to the point where the project can be abandoned. So getting used to stitching on a larger scale is worth the practice!

Finally my design wall is hosting the latest batch of Scrap Vortex style I-Spy scrap blocks.

This project inspired by a video of a two year old and his family enjoying one of these quilts. It just made my heart sing seeing the quilt used just I’d imagined it might be when I was making it 🙂

Now for the links into our Worldwide Quilting Community:

There’s definitely something timeless about patchwork stars. Myra’s latest pattern ‘Hometown Stars’ cleverly creates eight point stars within stars and has enough negative space to add a touch of modernity. She’s designed a really interesting border too.

Vicki has made a striking table runner using the Delectable Mountain pattern usually found in quilt borders.

Linda has been preparing and organising projects to take on a three day retreat. Do you aim to get the sorting and cutting done before a retreat?

Rachel has been enjoying the sights and colours of Cambridge, UK. The huge Wisteria on a wall of Christ’s College is stunning! I wonder if the colours will provide inspiration for a quilt?

Here’s a beautifully clear tutorial from Krista showing how to machine stitch perfect mitred corners. I always get in a bit of a mess at the corners when I machine stitch both edges of the binding to a quilt so I’ll be paying special attention to this tutorial.

Joining Brenda for Monday Musings over at Songbird Designs 🙂

It’s good to be back blogging! Happy stitching!

Allison